


A Turning Point

by raelee514



Category: Downton Abbey
Genre: Caught in the Act, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-29
Updated: 2017-09-29
Packaged: 2019-01-06 18:29:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,997
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12216465
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/raelee514/pseuds/raelee514
Summary: Jimmy cames back late from a disastrous date and gets an eyeful.





	A Turning Point

**Author's Note:**

> So, I was blocked again on what I want to be writing but wanted to get some writing in anyway. So went back into the file of halfwritten and miscellaneous things. So, here is another ficlet.

His cheek stung. Still. He expected it to have subsided by the time he trudged his way back to Downton Abbey. Jimmy couldn’t believe Marie hit him. She flat out slapped him hard enough on the face it felt like a punch. All he’d done was grope her a bit, pulled her against him. He’d been worse with Ivy — now if she slapped him like that, he might have tried harder to get back into her good graces. Marie wasn’t half as pretty as Ivy, though — despite obviously having a lot more spirit. But she wasn’t worth more money or trouble. He bought her dinner, movie tickets and a few drinks. They’d made a whole day of it. What a waste of his time off. 

Jimmy rubbed his hand against his cheek, but that only made it worse. He was beginning to worry maybe she bruised him, how would he explain that to Carson? He opened the back door, knowing it was unlocked because Thomas would’ve made sure he wasn’t locked out. He locked it behind him, thinking he’d see if Thomas’ light was still on when he got upstairs. He had a lot of things he wanted to say about Marie and her damn slapping. 

He winced again and hoped it wasn’t the scowling that was bothering his cheek. He decided to stop in the kitchen and find some powders. It hurt. Maybe he wouldn’t tell Thomas at all. He wasn’t about to admit a girl hit him hard enough to hurt him. “Blimey,” he muttered under his breath. He was almost to the kitchen when he heard a sound from the servant’s hall. He glanced over and saw the light on. 

Thomas? He thought, smirking a bit and instantly changed direction. He turned the corner, mouth already open, planning to go right into his complaining about Marie. But it died in his throat, and he thought maybe he gasped, but he wasn’t sure because the sight he was seeing didn’t shift. And if he’d gasped they surely would have jumped apart. 

What he was seeing was Thomas kissing a stranger. Some strange man. Jimmy took him in. His first thought was he was older than Thomas. He was a valet. He wasn’t bad looking. He had his hands on Thomas’ ass, he was pulling Thomas right into him. 

It was the move he’d gotten bloody slapped for. 

Thomas was fine with it. Thomas was more than fine with it. He heard Thomas moan and Jimmy’s eyes fell to his Thomas' throat. He followed the length of it up and landed on his mouth. He watched as Thomas moved his mouth against the other man’s mouth. Jimmy saw Thomas' tongue, followed by the appearance of the other man’s tongue. 

It was then Jimmy realized he should turn around. Turn around and leave. He was intruding. Thomas would be furious. He was so private. Jimmy stepped backward, but he didn’t turn, he kept watching. His eyes fixated on Thomas’s mouth, lips, the glimpses of tongue. 

Until the other man groaned. This guttural masculine sound of lust and want. It startled Jimmy’s eyes wide and he watched the man shove Thomas into the table. He was pushing Thomas down, he was going to crawl right over Thomas. Right on the bloody table in the servant’s hall. 

It went right to his cock. “FUCK.”

It flew out of his mouth. He didn’t even think it, or at least he wasn’t aware of thinking it. Not until he heard it. He just swore. Loudly. Too loudly. The man lept away from Thomas so fast it was almost comical. But Jimmy couldn’t laugh. He was surprisingly aroused, yet that wasn’t his biggest concern. He was worried about what Thomas was going to think about him watching. He immediately sought out his friend’s eyes. 

 

Thomas had jumped too, and Jimmy saw a flash of pure fear on his face as their eyes met. Recognition flickered, and his entire body and expression softened in less than a second. It was then Jimmy’s felt his face heat. He felt embarrassed. He shouldn’t feel embarrassed. He wasn’t the one caught in the compromising position. But he did feel caught. A different kind of caught and he wasn’t sure he wanted to dwell on the reasons why. But he held Thomas’ gaze.

“Sorry, sorry,” he stammered out.

“Thomas?” The man’s voice was full of fear and warning.

“It’s fine,” Thomas said. “It’s fine,” he repeated and stepped closer to the valet. He put his hand the man’s shoulder and squeezed it. “He knows about me. He won’t say anything.” 

Thomas was staring at him with absolute trust, which for some reason punched Jimmy right in the stomach. He looked away for a minute, not that it helped because the images of Thomas kissing the other man were immediately all he could think about. He shook himself and looked at Thomas and the valet. 

“Yeah, sorry, I thought Thomas was… well, reading.” Jimmy was impressed his voice sounded so normal. 

“Jimmy —James around Mr. Carson. This is Mr. Afton, Malcolm. He’s valet to Lord Devon.” 

“Oh,” Jimmy laughed. “When you said you knew his valet you meant…”

Thomas’s cheeks went red and he looked away. 

“Right, well, then… I’ll just get the powder I want and go upstairs.” Jimmy slapped his hands together, but he didn’t move. 

“Wait?” Thomas called out, missing the fact Jimmy seemed glued to where he stood. 

“What?”

Thomas crossed the room. “You have a gash on your cheek,” he touched it with his index finger.

Jimmy winced. “I what?”

“What happened?”

“She slapped me.”

“She what?”

“I didn’t do anything, not really…” Jimmy sighed. “She cut me?”

“Was she wearing a ring?” Thomas asked, and he grabbed Jimmy by his elbow. 

“I don’t know, didn’t look at her hands. Wasn’t expecting her to hit me.”

“After what happened with Ivy, I would expect you to be more gentlemanly.”

“Sod off, Thomas,” Jimmy laughed. 

“Ivy?” 

Jimmy turned then and saw Malcolm had followed Thomas across the room. He had an odd expression on his face, Jimmy thought. He was older than Jimmy realized from before. There was gray hair at his temples. He was handsome, but surely Thomas could do better than that. Jimmy was sure Thomas could do better than this guy. Jimmy realized as he studied the man he was staring right at Jimmy too. It was unsettling, Jimmy scowled. 

“Oh, a kitchen maid who ran off to America to get away from his roving hands.”

“Oi,” Jimmy yelled, and then he yelped as Thomas put something onto his cut. 

“Sorry,” Thomas murmured. 

“Could’ve warned me…” Jimmy stared at the first aid kit, Thomas had opened. When had he gotten that, he glanced at Mr. Afton again and saw the same odd expression aimed at him.

Thomas pressed a bandage onto his skin. “It’s small enough. You’ll have to tell Carson you screwed up shaving.”

“Really?” Jimmy whined.

“He shaves?” Mr. Afton asked his tone unbelieving. 

Jimmy scowled at him again.

Thomas chuckled as he put away the first aid kit. Then he grabbed a glass, water and mixed in the pain reliever. “Here.”

Jimmy made a face as he took the glass, and made a bigger face as he swallowed it. “Well, then, I guess…”

Thomas' cheeks flushed again. 

“Yes, Good night, Jimmy,” Mr. Afton said, pointedly.

Jimmy looked at him again. Then at Thomas. They locked eyes again. And again Thomas’ eyes shined with thankfulness. And again it punched Jimmy in the gut — but he couldn’t pinpoint why. He didn’t understand. But he nodded at his best friend and somehow managed to walk out of the room without saying another word. 

“You sure he can be trusted?” He heard Mr. Afton asked as his started up the stairs.

“Absolutely.”

“Really?”

“Jimmy’s a dear friend.”

It was the last thing he heard. He walked too far away to overhear more. A part of him wanted to turn around. But he shook his head. He kept walking up toward the attic. His mind fell back to the kiss. He clearly remembered the Thomas’s mouth against the other man’s. It hadn’t seemed odd. No, seeing Thomas kiss another man hadn’t been odd. Not at all. It looked right, really. Well, not completely right. Jimmy was sure Thomas could do better than Mr. Afton. But, Thomas with his eyes closed, with his hand on the man’s neck. With his lips and tongue pressing against another’s mouth. That hadn’t looked wrong at all. 

~~~

An hour later Jimmy was on his bed and trying to read a book. But it couldn’t compete with the images in his mind. What he saw downstairs felt burned into his retinas. It was playing on a loop, only with every repeat of it Thomas became more vivid, and the valet became less and less clear. Jimmy sighed and gave up on reading. He sat up and put the book on his nightstand and stared at his lamp. He should turn it off and try to sleep, but he feared what he might dream. 

A knock on the door pulled him from his thoughts, and he realized he wasn’t surprised. He knew it was Thomas. He got up and looked across the room where his white vest was hanging off the back of a chair. He looked at it and decided it was too far away. He opened the door and met Thomas’ eyes — only they were on his chest. Jimmy felt his mouth go dry and his heartbeat felt stronger. It was far from the first time he caught Thomas eyes on him in places they shouldn’t be. It had made him uncomfortable at first, then he started feeling flattered and as time moved on and they became closer he started noticing it only when it was blatant. 

“You should be asleep,” Thomas said breaking into his thoughts.

“I don’t think it’s happening,” he said and moved to the side so Thomas could walk in. 

Thomas walked to the center of the room and turned around to face Jimmy. Jimmy met his eyes and reached behind him and closed his door. He saw Thomas' eyes widen in surprise as the door clicked behind him. It struck him that he never closed the door. He always kept the door open when they were in his room. Why had he closed it? 

“About, downstairs…” Thomas said his voice lacking his usual confidence.

“It’s fine,” Jimmy said, quickly, he didn’t want him to worry about him saying anything. He wouldn’t. He couldn’t. He wouldn’t do anything to hurt Thomas.

“Is it?”

“Yes.”

“It’s asking…”

“Nothing, I don’t owe you,” he said, and the old guilt grabbed hold of him. It had faded over time, become a past he regretted but was making up for, but now he was questioning if he ever could. 

“You don’t owe me anything.”

“I do, though, Thomas. More than I can…” Jimmy sighed. “Really. It’s fine. I mean it wasn’t even strange.”

“You swore when you walked in.”

“No, I didn’t,” he argued and wished he hadn’t. No, he had sworn when he realized he was aroused.

“Jimmy….” Thomas shook his head. “You walked on two men, and you swore, and I understand…”

“I didn’t swear until he started to push you onto the table.” Jimmy interrupted not wanting to hear Thomas say he expected Jimmy to feel disgusted. 

Thomas’ cheeks pinked and embarrassment was apparent in the way his shoulder’s slumped. He opened and closed his mouth a few times and shook his head. “We were fool…” 

“I’m sorry.” Jimmy cut him off again.

“What?”

“For watching.”

“For… you were watching?” Thomas asked his eyes narrowing.

Jimmy nodded.

“Oh.” Thomas looked confused, but his eyes didn’t leave Jimmy’s face. “You didn’t walk in then?”

“No.”

“I don’t understand,” Thomas said. 

“I walked in, and you two were kissing. Then it got more intense, and then I realized he was shoving onto the table, which was when I swore.”

“You watched?”

“Yes. And I’m sorry,” Jimmy felt sweaty as he kept admitting what he had done but omitting why he done it.

“Why?”

“Well, it’s rude isn’t it,” he sputtered out afraid he might let the truth slip. 

“Ruder to be doing it in public,” Thomas sighed. “I’m sorry, it’s been so bloody long. For him too and it was…”

“Stupid?” Jimmy nodded because it was stupid. It was the servant’s hall, and his heart started hammering even harder. He could’ve been caught, really caught and something horrible would’ve happened. He might have lost him. He might have lost Thomas.

“Yeah,” Thomas admitted.

“You’re not mad?” He asked because he shouldn’t have been staring. He shouldn’t have been watching. He shouldn’t have enjoyed it, and it shouldn’t be making him feel strange and… He looked at Thomas standing in his room and remembered what he witnessed for the hundredth time. Only the older man wasn’t there anymore. 

“About?”

“Me watching.”

“I don’t… you were really just watching?” Thomas asked him like it was an absurd idea. 

“Yeah,” Jimmy laughed and wondered why it was feeling less absurd. “I kept trying to move, back away but, yeah I just watched.”

“Two men kissing?”

“Yeah,” Jimmy found himself smiling.

“That wasn’t….” Thomas moved his hands around. “Awkward for you?”

“Is it for you?” It was definitely seeming less and less absurd. He saw it again, and it was kissing. And kissing was amazing.

“No, it’s what I…”

“I don’t mean kissing a man, seeing a man kiss a woman.”

“I wouldn’t know. Never seen a man and a woman doing what I was doing…” Thomas blushed again as he pointed out that what he and the valet been doing wasn't a simple kiss. 

“I have,” Jimmy said. “Dance clubs, these days. But I keep finding the girls who think it’s still the 1900s and not the 1920s.” He touched his cheek thinking about Marie and found he wasn’t upset at all anymore she hadn’t wanted him.

Thomas laughed.

“It’s not funny,” he quipped out of habit.

“Was it shocking?”

“Her hitting me?”

“No, I mean. Walking in on Malcolm and me.”

“Malcolm.” Right he had a name. “No, not really. I mean isn’t he kind of old for you?”

“That’s your take away, Jimmy?”

“What?”

“His age.”

“It was kissing, Thomas. Nothing more natural right?” he asked because he was getting it now. True comprehension. 

“People would argue with you on that.”

“Maybe that’s because they’ve never seen it.”

Thomas answered with his soft smile. Thomas was smiling at him in the way that made it obvious he was in love with him. He was smiling at Jimmy like he was special and amazing. It always made him uncomfortable, but it never lasted long because Thomas would curb it down and pull on his mask again. But Jimmy didn’t want it to vanish. Jimmy was uncomfortable, but it was suddenly in an entirely new way. 

“What?” Jimmy realized as he spoke he was acknowledging seeing that smile.

“You…” Thomas breathed out. “Jimmy you walked in on me with another man.”

“I know, and…” he stammered and felt unsure. “I told you I’m sorry I just watched.”

“I’m not,” Thomas said, and Jimmy realized the smile wasn’t fading at all.

‘You’re not mad?” 

“No.”

“I…” Thomas stammered, and then he was closer. Jimmy felt his breath catch in his throat, and he stopped breathing when Thomas hand gripped his shoulder and said, “Thank you.”

“For?” Jimmy asked.

“Catching us. That could’ve gone badly, and I’m glad it was you. I knew we were safe.”

“Oh,” he said.

“Keep, um… keep an eye on us?”

“On who?”

“Me and Malcolm…”

Jimmy tensed at the reminder of Malcolm and the memory in his head snapped back into correct focus. It was Thomas and another man making out in the servant’s hall and that had been dangerous. Too dangerous. 

“Like I said. We’ve both been… well, it’s been awhile since either of us have been able to…” 

Jimmy shook his head and thought that sometimes his best mate could be dead stupid. He got too intense, stared too hard and too long. He put who he was on his sleeve, and it got him into trouble more than once. Jimmy knew it first hand. 

“You know, I sometimes I have a hard time being subtle,” Thomas finished echoing Jimmy’s thoughts. And it struck his funny bone and he doubled over laughing. He couldn’t stop it because it was it hilarious. “Sometimes?” he managed to chuckle out, and his head hit Thomas’ shoulder. He took in a few deep breaths and managed to stop laughing. He looked up, shaking his head and met Thomas' eyes. 

And his heart started hammering again as he stared into gray eyes full of amusement and love. They darted away, and Jimmy wanted to follow and make Thomas look right into him. 

Thomas nodded after a moment. “Will you?”

Will he? He swallowed over the lump in his throat and remembered. Keep an eye on him and the valet. They already acted without thought, and Thomas was far from subtle. The fear was back that someone might see them, catch Thomas. It was dangerous. But something else was eating at him, and he looked at Thomas. Just looked at him and thought he never really realized how handsome he was… 

Then he saw fear and doubt start to cloud Thomas features and he couldn't have that. “Yeah, I’ll keep an eye on you.” 

Thomas gave him a thankful smile and made his way out of the room. Jimmy followed him to the door, he stepped a bit out of his room and watched Thomas walked down the hall. He hoped he might turn back. He watched Thomas disappear into his room. He stared at the closed door for a long time and wondered what the hell he was doing.


End file.
